Last year Solomon’s Secret took a break from the festivities of the Apple Festival. Illness in the Osborne family, in particular in that of drama director Vickie Osborne Brown, and the passing of so many cast members, became too much to handle and those involved decided they could not pull it off.
Many requests were put forth by those who have come to love this simple story of not only our family’s history but our community’s history and the love and endurance of Solomon Osborne’s family. Nearly every family in the county and most certainly the southern end can trace their roots back to Solomon. If they are not related to Solomon then most often than not someone just like him, someone who had Indian blood, bud did not want it known. The government was controlling the Indian population in the mid 1800’s and Clay County was a good place to hide.
In 1991 our generation (the sixth) gathered up all the information we could find from the research of fellow family members. We wrote a play to show our children their history. The first one took place on Rocky and Rachel Osborne’s farm on Beechy Ridge in 1991 with a big picnic. We moved to the Russell and Joyce Shearer’s lawn for a couple of years before finally moving out to the Coon Hunters Club on Dundon Ridge because so many folks had requested to be allowed to watch the play. Many nights were enjoyed under the stars just relaxing and learning about those gone before us – that is until they shot the gun or a horse jumped the fire!
The Solomon’s Secret drama has a new home again at the JG Bradley campground at Dundon. It will be performed on September 18th and 19th and again on September 25th and 26th. Bring a lawn chair. I like to think Solomon Osborne hunted here as it is not a long walk over the mountains into Twenty Mile Creek. Watch and listen for his spirit.
